


5 Near Misses and 1 Beginning

by whateveriguess



Series: This is me, saving what I love [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 5+1 Things, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Holidays, Modern Era, minor finnrose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21963844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whateveriguess/pseuds/whateveriguess
Summary: From Reylo_prompts: "Friends Ben and Rey are secretly harboring crushes on each other but are too nervous to make the first move. Tired of them dancing around the issue, their friends throw a Christmas party—hanging mistletoe from just about everywhere."Ben and Rey are definitely something to each other: they know it and their colleagues know it. But when it takes too long for this something to develop into a relationship, their colleagues must resort to scheming.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: This is me, saving what I love [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581145
Comments: 19
Kudos: 195
Collections: Comfort Gems 2020, Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	5 Near Misses and 1 Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is dedicated to everyone having a rough Christmas/ holiday and using fic to cope. Whether it's family stuff, mental health stuff, or Star Wars stuff, you will get through it, and here's a bit of fluff to speed the process along.

-1-

Rey first happened upon the mistletoe as she crossed the threshold to Finn’s new apartment. It was clumsily taped to the doorway, already threatening to fall despite the early hour. She rolled her eyes, but thought little of it. When they lived together, Finn liked the thought of throwing a party more than he enjoyed the actual process of cleaning and decorating. So, the first one wasn’t too suspicious. But, ignoring the tacky holiday decor lining the walls (the paper wreaths and artificial tree propped in a corner), she observed a conspicuous amount of mistletoe strewn throughout the apartment. 

He _had_ been gushing about Rose, his apparently brilliant and lovely new resident of the cubicle across from his, so she decided to chalk this entire gathering and the mistletoe to boot to him finally making a move.

By the time she smiled and hello-ed her way across Finn’s living room, she had already grown weary of the listening to her colleagues’ effortless laughter and mirth filled eyes. She should have just taken him up on his offer to drive her there. As she was leaving the garage earlier that day, switching between her text chains with Ben and Finn, she realized she didn’t have a ride to Finn’s “last-minute, just a few friends, nondenominational-but-with-a-tree” party. Ben had offered, but assuming it was out of some misplaced pity for her situation— what with her piece of junk car stalling earlier that morning— she declined. Instead, she was left with the choice of shelling out the money for an Uber or walking the brisk mile to Finn’s house from the metro. Her chapped lips and slightly runny nose betrayed her choice. 

She was there alone now, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to regret her hasty decision to forge on ahead. She reasoned that the exercise was good and, after all, she had made some progress in the audiobook she was listening to. 

Tearing his attention away from an enthusiastically whispered conversation, Finn looked at her sitting dejectedly on his couch. He had hoped that her transportation conundrum would sort itself out and that the mistletoe hanging above the door would finally serve a purpose. Well, it had served an unintended purpose, when he opened the door to Rose who had asked with an affected touch of innocence if it was too early for the party and the scheme. But that was neither here nor there. 

-2- 

Finn made eye contact with Phasma across the room. Although their relationship was characterized by begrudging respect and punctuated by their frosty interactions at the best of times, they could at least agree on this particular subject. Phasma was the one who insisted they needed a Plan B in the groupchat. Finn had been overly optimistic and far too invested, Rose was well-meaning but less familiar with the subjects of the plan, and Hux was too busy pretending not to care (though when he could find it in himself to give a shit, he did think that this may be the perfect opportunity to distract Ben from his determined rise within the company). Phasma cared just the right amount, and as such, she was the only one who was level-headed about the whole thing. Though, this level-headedness was called into question when she suggested the only way to ensure that their situation was resolved tonight was to deck the room out in mistletoe. Rose did note that inviting a bunch of their colleagues to a party where kissing someone verged on obligatory was at the very least sketchy and at the worst a blatant HR violation just begging for a lawsuit. The plan proceeded anyway with the express understanding that any and all attendees with the exception of the two in question would be aware of the plan and would be allowed to opt out if they so chose. So, now all they had to do was wait for Ben to arrive. And arrive he did. 

Ben knocked too harshly to be considered the tolerant of this party and certainly far too harsh to be considered in any way enthusiastic about attending. He loved his mother, but liking her was a more difficult feat. She had a habit of digging in, asking for information about his life, his job, and his relationship or lack thereof. He consciously knew that she wanted the best for him, that her inquiries stemmed from the years of estrangement where she didn’t know the specifics or even where he was on a day-to-day basis. But there was a deeper, subconscious needling that she was determined to grant a reprise of his teenage years where questions were tinged with suspicion rather than curiosity and adoration of her only child. He had tried to take deep breaths on the way over— just like Amilyn would have wanted— but they were to no avail. His jaw had that tick his mother would tsk over and his posture was slouched as he had lost the will to correct it hours ago. And he was going to this party. Not because he really wanted to, but because he knew Rey was going to be there. In a pique of self-loathing, he had decided she was uninterested in him and frustrated by his persistence. He had quickly decided to back off once and for all, only to renege later when she expressed her excitement at seeing him. But he was here now, at a party that was supposed to be just a few friends and had quickly and decidedly become _not_ just a few friends. He stepped into the already packed living room, noting Rey sitting alone on the couch, the various objects spilling from an evidently hastily stuffed closet, and the copious amount of alcohol and mixers lining the counters in quick succession. He picked his way over to Rey, avoiding the sticky spots where someone had spilled alcohol and walked past without stopping for a second to make even a passable attempt at cleaning it up. He collapsed on the couch next to her, close enough that their arms bumped when she adjusted but far enough for plausible deniability. He had bumped against the wall when sitting down, jostling the mistletoe taped there, so it fell onto his sweater. Someone groaned across the room. It was at this moment that Ben noticed the mistletoe plastering every inch of the room. He had not signed up for this. And, if he wasn’t warmed by the wide grin Rey offered him, he would have up and left right there. 

-3- 

They made small talk for a while, Rey being more receptive compared to Ben’s weary and stilted responses. He had the distinct sense that he was being watched, as every time he looked up he made eye contact with another colleague before their eyes darted away quickly. As he leaned into Rey to hear better (and though he would never it, to feel the warmth emanating from her with her legs tucked under her and covered in a blanket), he looked over Rey’s shoulder and noticed Rose’s eyes darting back and forth between him and Rey and her persistent nudging of Hux who had misfortune of finding himself in nudging range at precisely the wrong time. He drew away at this moment, making his excuses. 

“I— I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Oh, okay. Remind me when you get back, I need to finish this story, it’s just getting good”

Of course, the entrance to the hallway, was decked out with multiple sprigs of mistletoe, as if one wasn’t enough to get the point across. 

“Oh for god’s sake. You know this is a parasite, right,” cried Ben.

“Lighten up dude” said Poe, leaning in, and planting a lingering kiss that was technically on Ben’s cheek but verged uncomfortably close to his lips.

“Jesus, Poe, really,” came an exasperated cry from across the room.

Ben would have lost it then and there if amidst his eye rolling annoyance he hadn’t looked over at Rey, still seated on the couch, legs extended as if she was saving the spot for him, her eyes filled with mirth and a reassuring smile. 

-4- 

By the fourth time, it had become a game. 

After returning from his trip to the bathroom, spent making eye contact with himself in the mirror, poking at the relentless bags under his eyes and splashing his face with water, Ben effortlessly lifted Rey’s legs off the couch for just a second, so he could sit back down. In a sudden stroke of courage, Ben rested his hands possessively over her calves, encouraging her to keep her comfortable pose. He leaned in, heart beating wildly, to whisper in her ear, “Want to mess with them?”

Her surprised chortle and gasped “yes,” through her laughter was all the answer he needed.

He stood up, shrugging her legs off, and extending a hand out to her. She grasped it while standing up, and squeezed it once, letting her hand drop back to her side again. 

Rey helped himself to the chips and dip at the table of scant food offerings, pulling off yet another sprig this time lazily taped to the counter 

“Oh come on, this one isn’t even real.” 

“It’s a silly holiday tradition, but dammit there are rules and a plastic representation of mistletoe certainly doesn’t abide by them” Ben chorused from behind her. 

“Also! It has to hang above you, taped next to the counter doesn’t count” said Rey, her tone indignant while shoving her plant into Ben’s hands so she could walk over to Finn and hit him upside the head. 

-5-

Ben was beginning to enjoy himself. As the night yawned into the early morning, he began to plot the next scheme with Rey. She pulled Rose over to the beer pong table set up in the middle of the living room while Ben gestured wildly and walked Finn over to the impending accident that required his immediate attention. Rey and Ben, exchanging a conspiratorial glance, pushed Finn and Rose together at the last second. Rose glanced up at the mistletoe she had found herself under, glanced up Finn’s lips, and then back at her shoes. With a huff and a mumbled, “this wasn’t the point,” she pulled Finn down to her level and pressed her lips to his. It was quick and chaste and slightly awkward as neither could help the smiles breaking across their face. 

-And 1-

The party died down and the guests returned to their homes, disgruntled and disappointed that they would be subjected to Solo’s moping for another few months until one of them— most likely Rey— worked up the nerve to make a move. Ben offered to clean up, going around pulling the mistletoe from the hard to reach doorways and ceilings, while Rey followed behind him stealing choice bits of food from half eaten plates and regretfully dumping what she deemed inedible into a trash bag. Ben stopped when there was one sprig left, just hanging there, expectantly. He looked at her and she looked back at him. He leaned down slightly as she craned her neck up, and he just waited. Waited for her to make the final move. At last, all his cards were on the table. And, for the boy who had held his deepest, darkest emotions in until an explosion of feeling blanketed his room, his family, his relationships, for the boy who was healing and trying to better, and trying to convince himself he deserved to be better, this was one of the hardest possible outcomes, even harder than suffocating silently with the weight of the crush. She crashed their lips together, and twined her arms around his neck, relishing in the urgent press of his lips against hers. The girl who had been a nobody for so long, who had starved for food and ached for companionship, had found her matching puzzle piece. He entangled his hands in her hair, mussing it up, so her trademark three bun hairstyle was barely recognizable. But it was also quiet, just like them. They didn’t want an audience and the pressure of onlookers. They wanted each other. 

And maybe they left the party together, and maybe they made the trek to Ben’s car, hands intertwined and swinging between them. And maybe their clothes hit the floor within minutes of each other. The particulars were no one’s business but their own. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the fic. If you want to yell at me about all things Reylo my twitter is magnesium_h. I'm always accepting prompts, so feel free to request one. And please leave a comment, it will make my day.


End file.
